• Swindon & Wiltshire Economy
• Tuesday September 8 2026

1,000 jobs to be created in UK’s drone capital

More than 1,000 highly-skilled jobs are on course to be created in Swindon following a wave of major investment in drone manufacturing.

The surge comes exactly a year after the Government’s Defence Industrial Strategy singled out Swindon as a national hub for defence innovation, prompting a concerted push by Swindon Borough Council and local MPs to convert that recognition into tangible industrial growth.

The centrepiece of the boom is the Ministry of Defence’s new Uncrewed Testing Centre at Panattoni Park, occupying more than 500,000 sq ft at the former Honda manufacturing site.

Described by the council as four times larger than NATO’s tactical drone centre in Latvia, the facility anchors the UK’s drone evaluation and certification pipeline and is expected to generate hundreds of technical roles.

In parallel, Portuguese drone manufacturer TEKEVER is establishing its largest UK production site in the iconic Spectrum Building, a 254,000 sq ft hub that will handle the full lifecycle of its AR3 and AR5 platforms, including the RAF’s StormShroud airborne jammer.

The TEKEVER hub alone is projected to support up to 1,000 skilled jobs across engineering, manufacturing and R&D when fully operational.

Council officers have played a hands-on role in both deals, working with developers, commercial property partners and central government to match complex technical requirements with available sites and streamline planning and regulatory processes.

That support has helped attract a further five unmanned aircraft specialists — ICOMAT, Shadowlink, Xtend, MyDefence and STARK Defence — which have either set up operations or announced plans to bring additional investment and employment to the borough.

Councillor Gary Sumner, leader of Swindon Borough Council (pictured during a tour of TEKEVER’s Spectrum Building earlier this summer) said the past 12 months had turned the Government’s vision into “real, tangible impact”, with high-value, well-paid jobs in a sector critical to national resilience.

Swindon North MP Will Stone MP, who was instrumental in bringing drone companies to Swindon, said: “I am grateful to the Inward Investment team for their help in bringing about my vision to transform our town into the UK’s leading Drone Hub.

“We have worked well together to reorient the town away from original plans toward high-skilled roles in defence.

“It has been great to take the lead on meeting with hundreds of companies, bringing in new companies like TEKEVER and STARK and working to find suitable locations for them to set up.

“I’m also privileged to have led efforts alongside Brigadier Stu Nasse to bring the MOD indoor drone testing facility to our town and brought interest from across industry and government to Swindon.”

With a strong pipeline of enquiries still in play, the council says Swindon is well placed to secure further defence and advanced manufacturing investment in the years ahead.